It'll All be Worth it in the End
by PurpleHime
Summary: New Years Eve is here and of course, Mikan's birthday as well. And Natsume has everything planned out so that he can wish his girlfriend a happy birthday. But will everything go his way or will everything blow up in his face as usual? NxM! Please Review!


Hi everyone! Well, this is just a short new years one shot, honoring both the upcoming year and Mikan Sakura's birthday, both of which are tomorrow! I had some difficulty writing this one, so I hope you like it. I am dedicating this fic to one of my best friends, Froggy Coffee Bean! Read her fics! They're really cute too!

"Natsume! Don't forget that my birthday is tomorrow!" Mikan Sakura reminded her boyfriend for what seemed like the millionth time. This was true, of course. Today was December 31 and Mikan has been running around, reminding everyone that she knew that her birthday was the following day. Natsume rolled his eyes.

"No, tomorrow is Ruka's birthday," her boyfriend drawled out sarcastically. "Idiot." Mikan glared at him.

"Natsume!" she whined pitifully. "Tomorrow is MY birthday!" The two were currently sitting under their favorite Sakura tree. Natsume reached up and grabbed Mikan by the arm, pulling her down so that she was sitting on his lap.

"I don't think it's possible to forget, since you've only reminded me nonstop," Natsume told her simply. He kissed her temple lightly. "I won't forget, so quit reminding me already." Mikan smiled happily and nodded her head.

"Just like I didn't forget your birthday," she stated happily. Natsume grinned slightly at the memory. Natsume's birthday had been a few days before and Mikan had taken him to the Central Town movie theatres. It had been just the two of them and it would have been perfect if it wasn't for the Mikan Sakura Fan Club. Unknown to Mikan, they had followed her and Natsume during their whole outing. Natsume had already burned one of them when he tried to cut a lock off of Mikan's hair, sending the poor fan boy immediately to the medical wing.

Those fan boys never failed to annoy the black cat, but what annoyed Natsume just as much was that Mikan never did anything about it. It was only a handful of times that those fan boys actually managed to get passed Natsume to approach Mikan. Most of those times were when the two were still single and all of those times Mikan acted as if she didn't care. She would smile politely, talk in that cute voice that was only meant for him, and except any cheesy gift that they managed to get for her. Then she would smile wider and thank them sincerely, while Natsume would watch from the side, fuming in anger. The black cat was thankful that he had confessed to the brunette because now when he spotted Mikan with any other guy, he didn't even hesitate to steer her away and burn the poor boy who even dared to get close to her.

"Natsume!" his best friend's voice broke him away from his thoughts. He spotted Ruka Nogi and his girlfriend, Hotaru Imai, walking toward them.

"Hurry up or we'll just leave you two behind," Hotaru warned, with a bored expression on her stoic face. "It's getting late." Hotaru was referring to the New Years festival that the Alice Academy had been setting up for over two weeks. It was supposed to be huge, filled with numerous games and rides, all in celebration of the upcoming year.

"Maybe you two should hurry up," Natsume retorted. "We've BEEN ready to go. We were waiting for you." That being said, Hotaru turned and walked off, dragging Ruka behind her by the arm.

"Yes! We're here!" Mikan exclaimed the minute they got off the bus. Natsume, Hotaru, and Ruka followed behind her, not as enthusiastic. Mikan gawked at the scene before her.

Decorations hung everywhere as well as lights. The carnival rides only added to the already bright festival, making Mikan's eyes fill up with childish excitement. Students ran around wildly, laughing and having a great time. Mikan subconsciously took a few steps forward.

"Oi! Don't get ahead of us!" Natsume warned the girl, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her back. He looked behind them and glared. Ruka gave him a confused side ways look and looked back as well. There, getting off the bus was Kiiro Hazumi, the leader of the Mikan Sakura Fan Club, as well as the four other main members in the club. Ruka immediately understood Natsume's sudden protectiveness.

"Natsume! C'mon! We're missing everything!" Mikan whined, trying to pull her arm away from her boyfriend's grasp, but Natsume's grip was firm. Hotaru, being who she is, began to walk off, continuing to drag her boyfriend with her.

"We're going to the buffet," she spoke carelessly. "Let's go, Nogi." Ruka turned and gave Natsume a worried look before going off with his girlfriend.

"Let's go, Polka," Natsume told the restless girl next to him, as he tugged on her arm. He wanted to lose his girlfriend's fan club, before he completely lost it. He draped a protective arm around her shoulders as they walked. Every once in a while he would look back to see that Hazumi and the rest were following them a good 30 feet behind. He gritted his teeth in anger.

"Natsume!" Mikan suddenly exclaimed. He snapped his head up and stared at her. She was pointing to one of the booths. "Look! Isn't it cute!" Natsume followed her gaze, not sure if she was talking about the booth for something else. From what he could tell, it was one of those carnival games where you had to knock down a few pins. It was then that he noticed that Mikan was pointing at one of the prizes. He raised his eyebrow at the medium sized black cat plush that Mikan seemed to be eyeing. He smirked.

"What? You want that thing?" he asked pointing at the cat. Mikan pouted.

"What's wrong with that?" she demanded to know. "It's cute!" Natsume shrugged and wordlessly headed toward the booth with Mikan in tow.

"One ball," Natsume told the guy at the booth. Natsume recognized him as one of Mikan's classmates from the special ability class. The guy looked at Natsume cockily.

"Ahhh… but this is a special kind of game," he told Natsume mysteriously. "In this game, one can only knock down those pins by using his alice." The guy grinned at his partner who only laughed in response. Natsume smirked as the two guys suddenly began to scream when the pins burst into flames. It only took a second for the pins to turn into a small pile of ashes. Natsume's smirk widened.

"I want that cat," he told them cockily, pointing at the plush that Mikan had been admiring. The two guys shared a look.

"D-Does that count?" The other guy just shrugged.

"J-just give it to him," he told his partner. "S-so that he can leave." The other boy nodded and got the black cat down with shaking hands and silently set it on the counter. Natsume picked it up and walked back toward Mikan.

"He didn't even pay!" the first guy exclaimed exasperated.

"Shhhh!" she second guy hissed. "He might hear you! That's Natsume Hyuuga! It won't hurt as much to pay for him as it will to taste some of his fire!" Natsume rolled his eyes and tossed 5 rabbits on the counter in front of the two Special Ability guys, before heading toward Mikan again.

"Here," he spoke emotionlessly, tossing the black cat at Mikan, who caught it clumsily. She stared at it before grinning happily. She hugged the plushy close.

"So cuuuuute!" she squealed, but then she looked up at Natsume and pouted. "Thank you Natsume, but you didn't have to do that. They might not have extra pins for the game now." Natsume just shrugged in response.

"They'll get over it," he assured the girl with a roll of his eyes. "Hurry up and figure out where we're going next." Now it was Mikan's turn to roll her eyes. Now if Natsume was a normal guy he would've said something like: "Where would you like to go now?", but of course, Natsume isn't a normal guy.

"I'm pretty hungry," Mikan answered, liking the idea of food at the moment. Natsume smirked.

"Of course you are," he stated. "Pig." Mikan glared at him, but grinned again, knowing that he was just kidding.

Mikan stood silently, watching some of the alices perform a street show. She stroked the black cat that Natsume had won for her as she giggled at the acrobatic alices. One of them had the clown alice and was running back and forth, honking a horn and throwing pies at people, as the other acrobats did some cartwheels and flips while holding batons. Natsume had wandered off to get some food for Mikan, after the brunette had refused to go with him to get food, wanting to watch the show.

"Mikan-sama," a voice spoke, making Mikan turn swiftly. She stared into the face of her fan club. Her eyes widened in shock at she stared at them.

"Oh…. Hazumi-san," she greeted the speaker with a smile. She grinned at the other four behind him, not knowing what else to say. She never really understood how someone like her had managed to get a fan club, but was flattered by them. Hazumi looked around.

"So where's Hyuuga?" he finally asked. "Did he leave you here by yourself?" Mikan nodded.

"Yeah, he just went to get some food," she answered. "He should be coming back soon." Hazumi just nodded in response.

"Mikan-sama," Hazumi spoke gently, taking Mikan's hand in his. He kissed the back of it lightly. "We of the Mikan Sakura Fan Club are very much aware that your birthday is tomorrow, but we wanted to give you your gift now… is that okay?" Mikan blushed at the sudden contact. She knew from experience that Natsume wouldn't hesitate to hurt her fan club for even getting close to her.

"Oh! You guys didn't have to get me a gift!" she exclaimed. "But I'm happy! That's very nice of you, but you guys should go. Natsume might.. get mad at you."

"Oh we know what Hyuuga would do if he saw us," Hazumi assured her. "That's why we want you to come with us for a moment." Mikan seemed taken aback.

"Come with you?" she repeated in confusion. "Where?"

"Just into the forest over there," he told her in a calm way. "No one's there right now." Mikan hesitated. If Natsume came back and was looking for her, he might now be too happy. Then again, if he saw her now with her fan club, he may to something way more drastic.

"Okay!" she told her fan club happily. Hazumi grinned excitedly and took her hand, blushing like a ripe tomato.

"G-great! It's just this way!" The group then made their way into the forest.

"We should hurry up and do this quickly, before Hyuuga comes back," one of the other members told Hazumi as they walked. Hazumi nodded in agreement.

"This should be far enough," he said once they got far enough where the festival lights were no longer visible. He took a large rectangular box from one of the other members and held it out for Mikan to see. The box was taller than Mikan herself, making her eyes bulge out in shock. It was wrapped in shining red wrapping paper and had a gold bow attached to it. Mikan was about to touch it when the box burst up in flames. Mikan shrieked and jumped back away from it. She fell into a pair of strong protective arms. She looked up at Natsume Hyuuga. His eyes were raging just as much as the flaming present that Hazumi dropped on the ground in shock. The fan club plus Mikan began to run around in panic as the fire began to spread. Hazumi was running around in circles, desperately trying to calm the flame that was making its way up his arm. Mikan leapt forward and a bright light filled the area and immediately, all the flames disappeared. Thank goodness for nullification…

But of course Natsume wasn't finished with them yet. Hazumi was on the ground, clutching his burnt arm. Natsume stepped toward him and grabbed him by the collar roughly.

"What do you think you were doing?" he asked darkly, making the others cower in fear, even Mikan. Hazumi stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. The rest of the fan club just stared, all of them too much of cowards to save their leader. When it came to Natsume, it was every man for himself. Not even giving the fan club leader time to answer, Natsume punched him square in the face, knocking him out at once. He had been waiting for a chance to do that the day that Mikan's fan club had been created and it felt great. He glared at the rest of the fan club.

"Don't let me catch any of you around Mikan again," Natsume warned them in an icy tone. "She belongs to me." With that being said, he grabbed the girl by the wrist and walked away without another word.

The two walked in silence. Mikan had noticed a while ago that they definitely weren't heading back toward the festival, but deeper into the forest. She walked silently behind him. Mikan could still feel the heat radiating off her boyfriend as she felt guilt stab at her chest. She knew how betrayed Natsume must have felt when he saw her, getting ready to except a gift from another guy. She had done it as if Natsme had never existed at all. It felt as if they had been walking forever when Natsume finally stopped.

"N-Natsu-" but she was cut off when Natsume lunged at her and brought her into a warm embrace. Mikan stiffened in shock. She had expected an outburst of anger. A sign showing that he was angry at her. Not this. Natsume held onto her tightly, burying his face in her silky brown hair. Natsume couldn't even begin to describe how angry and upset he was when he had spotted her with those fan boys. He continued to hold her. Right now, he was protective of her. Right now, he felt as if she would disappear if he let go of her. When he had spotted her with them, he felt as distant as he could get from her and that scared him. This feeling lasted for about a minute, before he began to feel anger. There was no way that Hazumi could have gotten her into the forest unless she came willingly. Realizing what the brunette had done, he pulled away from her and stared down at her sternly.

"Why did you go with them?" he demanded to know. "You could have put up a fight or you could have yelled for help! Anything!" Mikan stared at him for a moment before answering.

"They had a gift for me," she told him as if it were obvious. Natsume glared down at her.

"So what?" he demanded. "You are MY girlfriend! You can't accept gifts from other guys except for me!" Mikan looked taken aback.

"What's wrong with accepting a gift?" she asked suddenly. "You can't tell me not to!" Natsume's eyes narrowed further.

"Yes I can," he told her simply. "Because I'm your boyfriend." Mikan actually narrowed her eyes at this statement.

"So?" she asked cockily. "That doesn't mean you own me!" Natsume pulled her toward him.

"Actually it does," he told her, grinning slightly. "You are mine. Which means that I am yours, I guess." Mikan's eyes widened as she blushed. Natsume bent down so that their faces were centimeters apart.

"So you do have to do what I say," he concluded. Mikan was about to retort, when Natsume tossed something at her. She caught it and blinked, realizing that it was a box. It wasn't a big box. Mikan held it in her hands and stared down at it questioningly.

"Just open it, Polka," Natsume told her impatiently. "It took me a while to think of something to get you, so don't complain if you don't like it." Mikan grinned and tiptoed so that she could kiss Natsume on the cheek.

"I'm sure I'll like whatever it is," she assured him. "And I'm sure that it's probably better than what you got me for Christmas." She laughed, as Natsume glared at her. He didn't have to be reminded of that day. He had spent countless hours at Central Town to find Mikan a Christmas gift and ended up not being able to find one in the end. Mikan had forgiven him, telling him that all she needed was for him to be there.

"At least I actually got you something this time," Natsume told her. Mikan smiled up at him and nodded. Then carefully, she began to remove the wrapping paper, until she came to a small white box. With Natsume watching her every move, she opened the box and peered inside.

"Awww… you got me tissue!" she exclaimed happily, teasing him. Natsume bopped her in the back of the head lightly.

"It's under the tissue, idiot," he told her, smirking. Mikan glared at him.

"I know that," she replied cockily. "I was just kidding!" That being said, she moved the tissue aside and stared down at the object inside. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

There, staring up at her was a figurine. Not just any figurine of course. They were little chibi versions of Natsume and herself. The little glass figure seemed to glow under the starry sky. Little chibi Natsume had his arms wrapped around chibi Mikan's waist, hugging her close. Its cheek rested on top of little Mikan's head. Chibi Natsume had that same bored expression on his face, while chibi Mikan was smiling brightly, hugging the chibi flame caster's arm. Non-chibi Mikan carefully took the little figure out of its box so that she could have a better look at it. Her eyes slowly filled with tears.

"S-so cute…" she breathed so softly that Natsume didn't hear it. He took her tears the wrong way and began to panic.

"H-Hey! If you don't like it, than we can always get something el-" he began to say, but Mikan wouldn't have that. With a couple tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, she jumped at Natsume and captured his lips in hers. Natsume's eyes went wide, but he got his composure back quickly and responded to the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer toward him. Mikan wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck, deepening the kiss. After a moment or two, they pulled away from each other.

"I-I love it, Natsume," she told him softly. "Thank you." Natsume had to turn away for a moment to hide his blushing face.

"G-good!" he stuttered. "Because it took me a while to think about what to get you and I'm not going to return it. It cost me a lot too, since I had to get it specially made." Mikan grinned up at him happily. She looked down at the figurine again. She ran her finger over chibi Natsume's head.

"It's so cute!" she repeated. "It looks exactly like us!" Natsume stared down at it as well.

"Not really," he stated thoughtfully. "I'm way better looking than that." Mikan just laughed.

"No, I think chibi Natsume's cuter!" she teased, grinning. Noting Natsume's look, she added quickly. "But I still love you!" Satisfied, Natsume let his stern look turn into at smirk. Before he could even response, a loud boom met their ears, causing Mikan to jump into his arms in alarm. Mikan calmed when she realized that the fire work show had started. Using this opportunity to his advantage, Natsume sat down against a tree and pulled Mikan down so that she was sitting in his lap. Mikan relaxed and leaned back against Natsume's chest. Natsume leaned down and rested his chin on her shoulder as they watched the fireworks together.

"I love you too, Mikan," Natsume murmured after a while. Nothing really mattered anymore. They were lost in their own little world where it was only the two of them in existence. They had each other and that's all they needed. When Natsume did look back to think about everything that had happened that day, he knew that deep down, it was worth it.

A.N- Well, there you have it! (sigh) Mikan and Natsume are so cute! If I made any mistakes or if there is something that confused you… please tell me about it! I was somewhat lazy and didn't read through it, but I hope you all enjoyed it anyway, cuz I worked somewhat hard on it…Oh yeah… if some of you were wondering.. my pen name used to be Yuki's-lil-sis. Just something I wanted to mention that confuses me even now. My previous offer still stands! If any of you have suggestions about another fic I could write about Mikan and Natsume, I'd like to give it a try! So please review!

-PurpleHime


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